The Desiring God conference in Minneapolis this weekend has prompted me to open this topic. There is live streaming of the event, which I have been listening to as much as I could all afternoon: fascinating! I only wish I could be there.

If you know of a Lewis conference or upcoming event, feel free to post it here.

EDIT: We were at lectures given by Ravi Zacharias' team last Saturday, and to my great joy, the topic of the 2nd presenter, Andy Bannister, was "C.S. Lewis and the New Athiests", following CSL's journey from religion to atheism to theism to Christianity. Loved it!

Not sure what is forthcoming tomorrow and Friday, but I never tire of this subject, so am eager to listen in again.

Now, having not known the subject of CSL was on tap for this week on Haven Today, it was a very pleasant surprise when Charles Morris, HT's host, began Monday's broadcast by this teaser (quoting from memory, so this is not word-for-word):

"50 years ago, on November 22nd, 1963, the assassination of John F. Kennedy shocked the world. The same day, Adolph Huxley died. But, I am thinking of somone else who also passed away that day." I wonder who ...

Speaking of CSL commemoration events, there are two days of commemoration events going on at Westminster Abbey, in London, which you can see here at this link. A plaque will be unveiled and there will be a symposium and commemorative thanksgiving service on 21st - 22nd November to honour C.S.Lewis' Christian work.

Dr Michael Ward of Oxford University, who wrote "Planet Narnia", and "The Narnia code" will be one of the presenters, as well as some other authors, theologians and scholars.

Just thought you might like to know, even if it is a long stretch for most of us who do not live in UK, to go to Westminster Abbey for such an occasion.

Thank you, johobbit. Though I am a bit fed up with some of the BBC style articles about C.S.Lewis. On the other hand, you might be interested in this Belfast celebration. Belfast, of course, was where C.S.Lewis was born, but has been famous since 1945 for rife sectarian and political violence. It is nice to see the people of Belfast enjoying together a nice breakfast, instead.

I've been trying to get the history editor of our own Daily Telegraph to write some sort of article about C.S Lewis and Aldous Huxley, who wrote Brave New World, by pointing out that the much commemorated JFK was not the only one who died 50 years ago, on 22/11/1963. But I will have to find out how successful I was tomorrow morning. Our newspapers/television etc are full of JFK, which is fair enough, but I hope you don't mind that I think on the other side of the Pacific, we should commemorate C.S Lewis and his literary colleagues just as much.

My own personal way of celebrating C.S.Lewis is to try to finish a fanfic I have attempted. And, having read that Belfast article, I might have sardines on toast for either breakfast or dinner. Followed by a Turkish delight bar.

Thanks for that, wagga! Enjoy that Turkist Delight bar. I hope that fanfic comes along well.

Above, I mentioned Breakpoint's CSL commentaries for this week, but today's, almost predictably, is on the Narnian Chronicles. And it's a chill-bump-inducing few minutes as well. I'm sure each one of us here has our individual 'Narnia/CSL testimony'. We have a special topic on just that, and would love to hear your own Lewis story. And take a listen to the commentary when you have a chance (it's just under 4 minutes long), and recall again how Narnia has so beautifully influenced your life over the years.

Here is a short video of the honouring of C.S. Lewis in the Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. It was wonderful hearing Doug Gresham reading from the amazing last chapter of The Last Battle, and I won't say I didn't shed a few tears. Pity the video only played short clips of the ceremony, which were but a tease for more. I would love to see/hear the entirety. Maybe it's somewhere online: I have not checked yet. Also, I am curious who that elderly man is who helped lay the bouquet ... could it be a relation of one of the Inklings, I wonder? (I have put forth the question to the Marion E. Wade Center in Wheaton, IL.)

johobbit wrote: I would love to see/hear the entirety. Maybe it's somewhere online: I have not checked yet. Also, I am curious who that elderly man is who helped lay the bouquet ... could it be a relation of one of the Inklings, I wonder?

I have a couple of possibilities - David Gresham? Walter Hooper? I will try to ask the lady whose link I posted above.

“Stale water is a poor drink,' said Annlaw. 'Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began.”― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

An another note, we found out that a local elementary school is putting on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a play this December! Our neighbour's daughter was going to play Lucy, but for some reason there was a cast change, and she will now be ... the White Witch!

Very cool, Jo! I'll definitely have to look at that survey. And how exciting for your neighbour's daughter!!

In another corner of the world, there is an upcoming C.S. Lewis Festival, which I am currently planning on attending. It looks like it is all sorts of fun, and I somewhat regret that I don't have any of my costume things with me. If anyone else is heading that way, do PM me! I'd love to meet up.

So, tonight we see the local school's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe here in town. Here is the link to the school's website, which already has a few photos up. We have seen the set already and it looks amazing.

(Regarding Edmund's headgear, I have NO idea why people think that schoolboys in England wore a working man's Flat Cap - they didn't. School caps were a hemispherical version of the baseball cap, with a smaller peak. I have seen this idea in several productions, and it's just wrong! With google to look on, there is no excuse (unlike a local school production about 13 years ago).

“Stale water is a poor drink,' said Annlaw. 'Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began.”― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer